There is a great danger in the spiritual life that we try to make God in OUR image and not accept that it is we who are made in God’s image and likeness. We do that because we want God to be on our side in whatever we want. We know, of course, that God’s ways are not our ways and that we don’t love as He loves, forgive as He forgives, etc.
Last Sunday, at the end of the Synod in Rome, Pope Francis delivered a homily where he talked about love, as the Gospel last Sunday was about the Two Great Commandments, and he pointed out that love requires adoration and service. He was speaking mostly to the clergy and vowed Religious but, of course, also to us. He also went on to talk about idolatry and how we are disappointed because “I imagined one thing, I expected that God would behave like this, and instead I was wrong. But in that way we turn back to the path of idolatry, wanting the Lord to act according to the image that we have of Him”. Here is a link to the complete text of his homily: https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/homilies/2023/documents/20231029-omelia-conclusione-sinodo.html
We need to turn away from this temptation to make God in our image, expecting him to support our causes. We certainly see it in politics but also in other matters. We must be more like God, not expect Him to be more like us. This danger seems to me to be widespread in our world, and sometimes unfortunately, in His Church.
So, as we Adore and Serve Him, whatever our role may be, let us be sure that we have our roles correct and not reversed as Satan would suggest to us, as he did to our first parents. We need to continue to pray that God will transform us so that we are more like him. Then we can change the world as He wants it to change, not as we think it should be.
In the last week we lost two friends in Springfield. It’s a reminder that we need to always be ready. One of them had fought cancer for a long time and was certainly ready. The other’s death was not expected but thankfully she was the kind of person who was always ready. She helped others to be ready as well. Death can be hard to think about in the midst of our day to day life when we’re basically healthy and have a lot left to do. As the saying goes we should “remember our death”. That means remaining spiritually ready.
In the eulogy for his mother one of the sons reminded us at the funeral to not only pray for her and the family, which we should of course, but also to pray for the poor souls in Purgatory who do not have someone to pray for them. That was a good reminder for me so I am passing it along to you. We are the Church Militant, the poor souls are in the Church Suffering and we all hope to be a part of the Church Triumphant in heaven one day.
That’s it for now. Thanks for reading.
I hope you have a great week.
Peace, Bob
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